Saturday, January 9, 2016

Make an Easy Quilt in January

Are you ready for more fun challenges this year? In my small quilt groups we're making easy strip quilts in January to kick off another year of small quilts. One every month. By the end of the year, if you keep up, you'll have enough for a nice wall of little quilts (or perhaps you'll just be sick of them).

This one doesn't have to be fancy. Even a simple one can be fun to make. You can make it artsy or Amish. Make it primitive or bright. Use any kind of fabric.

This is a fun way to use up some of your scraps. I suspect some of you may even have packages of charm squares from the fabric swaps we hold every year. Go on - cut into them already!

Cut your strips whatever width you think you can work with – 1", 1 1/2" or any
other size. Play around a bit and
see what you come up with. You may arrange your strips to make a Bars quilt, a
Coins quilt, a Courthouse Steps quilt, a Rail Fence quilt or perhaps even a log
cabin. Anything goes. Sew some strips together and see what happens.

There's a cute little Coins quilt in my book Remembering Adelia - one option if you haven’t already made it.

Last year I made a bag using strips of some of my favorite prints.

Sewing long strips together to make a simple bars quilt is another option.

You get the idea. Have fun and if you're in one of my online groups (see sidebar) show us your
quilts or projects by the end of January if possible.

It sure is a fun way of using up fabric scraps and i've got plenty of those lol! Right now i'm having fun playing with selvedge strips, which i've been collecting over the years. They're coming together nicely and they're scrappy too.. i wonder what i'll end up making??

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I'm a quilt designer and author of six quilting books for Martingale. I love making small quilts with an antique look and find inspiration in quilts from the past and the women who made them.
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See more of my quilts, books and patterns at http://www.countrylanequilts.com/

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If you're using one of my patterns on your blog or as a challenge for your group or guild - either the free ones from my website or my yahoo group or perhaps from one of my books - please make sure you give me credit for writing the pattern and drawing up the design and ask permission before you reproduce or distribute it. Thanks!